Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Generation of the potent anti-malarial drug artemisinin in tobacco

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: The pathway and constructs for engineering artemisinin production in tobacco.
Figure 2: Production of artemisinin in engineered tobacco plants.

References

  1. World Health Organization. World Malaria Report 2005 (WHO, Geneva, 2005).

  2. Ro, D.K. et al. Nature 440, 940–943 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Martin, V.J., Pitera, D.J., Withers, S.T., Newman, J.D. & Keasling, J.D. Nat. Biotechnol. 21, 796–802 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. van Herpen, T.W. et al. PLoS ONE 5, e14222 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Zhang, Y., Nowak, G., Reed, D.W. & Covello, P.S. Plant Biotechnol. J. 9, 445–454 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Covello, P.S. Phytochemistry 69, 2881–2885 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Brown, G.D. Molecules 15, 7603–7698 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Towler, M.J. & Weathers, P.J. Plant Cell Rep. 26, 2129–2136 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Schramek, N. et al. Phytochemistry 71, 179–187 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Zhang, Y. et al. J. Biol. Chem. 283, 21501–21508 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Graham, I.A. et al. Science 327, 328–331 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Farhi, M. et al. Metab. Eng. 13, 474–481 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Kappers, I.F. et al. Science 309, 2070–2072 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Ma, C. et al. Metabolomics 5, 497–506 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Peremarti, A. et al. Plant Mol. Biol. 73, 363–378 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Naqvi, S. et al. Trends Plant Sci. 15, 48–56 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Wu, S. et al. Nat. Biotechnol. 24, 1441–1447 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Hale, V., Keasling, J.D., Renninger, N. & Diagana, T.T. Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 77, 198–202 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank I. Kaye for his support and assistance. This work was partially funded by the Israel Science Foundation grant nos. 269/09 and 432/10, F.I.R.S.T. 432/10 and BARD grant no. US-4322-10. A.V. is an incumbent of the Wolfson Chair in Floriculture.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexander Vainstein.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Text and Figures

Supplementary Methods and Supplementary Fig. 1 (PDF 711 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Farhi, M., Marhevka, E., Ben-Ari, J. et al. Generation of the potent anti-malarial drug artemisinin in tobacco. Nat Biotechnol 29, 1072–1074 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.2054

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.2054

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing: Translational Research

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Translational Research newsletter — top stories in biotechnology, drug discovery and pharma.

Get what matters in translational research, free to your inbox weekly. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Translational Research